The Odd Life of a Dursley
by SSS-love2read
Summary: Dunkin was a lot like Dudley, the size of a baby orca, and completely spoilt, 'He's a man.' Dudley told his wife proudly, thrusting his chest out. But little Veronica, his girl, was always different; quiet, skinny, and extraordinary things always seemed to happen to her.
1. Chapter 1: Finding Out

**This is just a silly little story. I was bored, and had an idea, enjoy!**

* * *

This was not happening.

He, Dudley, forbid it. This would not happen.

But still, the letter lay on his desk, a crest stamped on the front, the words 'Hogwarts' just hardly legible.

Dudley mentally face-palmed himself; he should've seen this coming.

Dunkin was a lot like Dudley, the size of a baby orca, and completely spoilt, 'He's a man.' Dudley told his wife proudly, thrusting his chest out, but little Veronica, his girl, was always different, quiet, skinny, and extraordinary things always seemed to happen to her.

But still, no.

He should've seen this coming; he was cousins with one. It ran in their blood! He should've seen this coming.

What would he tell Gabrielle? He hadn't told her about his… unfortunate… relatives. What would she say?

He needed to speak to, despite their cold relationship, Harry Potter. He needed Harry to explain it to Veronica, to tell his children to look out for her. And also, he thought it necessary that Veronica knew his cousin's story.

Dudley moved towards the phone, still numb, before realizing Harry did not have a phone.

'Dudley, honey, what's going on!'

His short, plump wife waltzed into the room, concern etched on her pink face.

Dudley took a deep breath, and began to explain.

'And, my cousin! He's famous there. I'm so sorry, Gabs! I should've told you. But I didn't think it'd come up!'

Gabrielle's porky face was looking at Dudley in disbelief, and slight anger. 'Give me that letter!' she snapped, her hands outstretched, expectant face impatient.

And grabbing the life-changing letter with trembling hands, he handed it to her.

The more she read, the paler her face became, and at the end, her normally pink face was white.

'Nonsense!' she whispered, 'Not real. Magic doesn't exist!'

'Look, Gabs. I've seen it, it does. And Harry got a letter just like this one.'

'Wait!' she shrieked suddenly, 'you've been letting Veronica play with them! It's your fault!'

Dudley jumped back, startled, knocking over the ironing table. 'Gabby, you'll wake her. And it doesn't matter. It runs in her blood, anyways. We should tell her, she has to go.'

Gabrielle shook her head vigorously, just as an owl landed on their kitchen table, Gabrielle screamed, and cowered against Dudley's meaty chest.

Dudley, however, grabbed the letter, and unfolded it.

_Dudley,_

_My old friend Neville tells me that Veronica has received a letter to Hogwarts. (Neville teaches Herbology, so I expect Veronica will see quite a bit of him) Congratulations! Though, I suppose you don't see it that way, you've always been your father's son._

_I've told Albus and James to help her out, although you'd do well to expect little from James, and I believe Albus has always found her nice enough._

_It'll be Lily's first year as well, so they can help each other out, and become friends. I'll keep my fingers crossed that they're in the same house. If you want, I can come over to explain things more thoroughly._

_Best wishes,_

_Harry Potter_

_P.S Seems like a bad idea now, not telling your wife! And please, let Veronica go, it's dangerous otherwise._

'See. Gabs!' he handed her the letter, 'We'll get Harry over here, and he'll explain!'

Gabrielle nodded mutely, her eyes on the letter, 'Okay,' she said, sighing in submission, 'But that Lily better be nice to her, and what's this about 'houses'?'

'Harry will explain. I'll just… send a letter back with the owl, I suppose.'

He quickly wrote a response, and tentatively tied it to the owls leg, 'Er, Harry Potter.' He told the owl, feeling foolish; owls don't understand English! However, the owl spread its wings, and hooted, before sailing out the window.

The sound of young feet made Dudley whip around. Veronica stood there, looking at her feet, 'What's going on?' she mumbled, looking bravely at her father.

Dudley smiled, 'We've got some big news, you're a witch.'

Her face fell, 'That's not very nice!' she said defiantly.

'No! Like a wizard! A magical person. Uncle Harry and his children are, too! You just got your letter, you'll learn magic there! Harrys coming over to explain, and take you to get your shopping done, hopefully.'

Veronica looked at her father with a worried expression; had he gone mad?

It took about ten more minutes, and the promise that her uncle would demonstrate, before Veronica was convinced, but when she was, she looked happier than ever before.

And that was the start of the adventures of Veronica Dursley.

* * *

**Please review!**


	2. Chapter 2: The Fire-Place

**So its not a short story anymore, I changed it, because I wanted to write about Veronica, Lily and Hugo.**

* * *

Veronica pressed her cheek to the window; they were meant to be here! Maybe he'd forgotten. Maybe he decided she needn't go. But she was so excited; she'd been looking forward to going to the place Diagon Alley since her uncle had told her about it. She was going to buy loads of books. Harry had given her the gist of his story but she wanted to know more! And she wanted to see Lily! She'd always _known_ Lily, but now she knew the secret, she wanted to befriend her.

But they should've been here five minutes ago. Her breath was fogging the windowpane, her light brown hair falling over her cheek as she looked out at the street of Privet Drive from her house, number sixteen. Her grandma and grandpa lived just a few houses away. Oh, what they would say if they knew! Dad had told her they detested magic! She giggled, before remembering that her uncle, although technically he wasn't her uncle, she thought of him as one, had forgotten her.

Just then there is a loud BANG and a muffled groan.

'Damn it! I forgot the chimney's blocked! James, DON'T COME DOW- OUCH! Did you even hear me?'

'Ow! Sorry, dad. What's happened?'

'The chimney's blocked. Completely forgot about the electric fireplace! Should've remembered, happened to the Weasleys when I was your age.'

'Okay. Enough talk, tell Al to stay away.'

'Yeah. HEY Al-'

Another loud crash, and a muttered oath sounded from the chimney.

'James!' said an outraged Harry Potter, 'Language!'

'Oh no, Lily's coming down right after me, she'll be down in-'

CRASH

'Seriously, James! Who taught you that?'

'Uncle Ron.'

'I'll have a word with him.'

'Dad, tell mum!'

'GIN! DON'T COME DOWN! TELL RON AND HERMIONE TO STAY THERE, CHIMNEY'S BLOCKED!'

A voice piped up, sounding like it came from a great distance, 'Okay, I'm telling them now.'

'Thank you honey. Don't worry, we'll get you over here soon.' A pause, 'Hello! Hello! Anyone down here?'

Veronica shakily hopped to her feet, 'Hello, this is Veronica.'

'Ah, well, can you get your dad? I need to talk to Diddykins.'

James howled with laughter, and Lily made a disapproving noise, 'Mum says you aren't talk about Uncle Dudley like that.'

'Shut up Lil.' groaned Albus, 'You're exactly like Aunt Hermione, or Grandma Weasley!'

'Shut _up_, Albus!'

'Kids, for the love of Merlin, be quiet.'

Veronica left them bickering in the chimney, and went outside to get her father, who was yelling at the post-man.

'You think I care, you son o-' Dudley stopped mid-word, 'hello, Veronica, what's wrong?'

'Uncle Harry's stuck in the chimney.' She said with a giggle, 'He wants to speak to you.'

'Oh,' he casted a side-ways glance at the post-man, who looked flabbergasted, and said loudly, 'That Harry, always thinking he can clean the chimney himself.'

'Veronica led her father inside, and called, 'He's here, I've brought him.'

'I don't care if Albus 'provoked you', you do not kick your brother, no matter what, especially when we're stuck in a chim-'

Harry Potter's telling off was cut short by Veronica's words, 'Oh, um, hello Dudders, sorry to be an… inconvenience.'

To Veronica's surprise, her father started laughing uncontrollably, and slumped into a chair. 'I… thought…' he panted, talking between laughs, 'you'd have… learnt from… your mistakes!'

'Shut up. Do you mind if I blast the fireplace? I'll fix it when we leave!'

'Fine,' said Dudley, with a resigned sigh, 'Good thing Gaby's out shopping.'

'Right. I'll blast it, and let my wife through, but I'll tell Ron and Hermione to Floo straight to Diagon Alley.'

'What's Floo?' asked Veronica uncomfortably, she didn't know how to do whatever Floo-ing was.

'It's not hard.' Said Albus, recognizing Veronica's worry, 'First time dad did it,' he chuckled, 'he turned up in the middle of the wrong street, but Hagrid found him. Ooh, you'll get to meet Hagrid, won't she, dad?'

'Yeah, sure. On the count of three. One. Two. Three'

BAM!

Suddenly four people toppled out of the chimney, as bits of metal flew everywhere.

First, a tall bespectacled man, with bright, almond-shaped eyes, and messy raven-coloured hair, then a young boy, around the age of twelve, who looked like a miniature version of the man in front of him, except for without glasses. Behind him, a broad grin on his face, was another boy, with messy black hair as well, but brown eyes that were easily seen through the glasses upon his nose. Finally, collapsing on the carpet in a heap, was a girl with red, straight hair, and large brown doe-eyes that immediately captured all who looked at her.

The man, Harry Potter, leaned his head in the chimney, 'Gin, the all-clear, come on down!'

And a young, beautiful lady waltzed out of the chimney, green flames licking at her heels. She looked like an older version of Lily, though her hair was in loose curls, rather than straight.

'Honey,' she said, reaching for Harry, 'Hermione, Ron, Rose and Hugo are meeting us outside Flourish and Blotts, in about ten minutes, we'd better hurry.'

'Oh please! Ron won't care! He'd miss everything of it weren't for Hermione.'

'Yes, well Hermione's coming, so Ron will be on time. Let's just grab Veronica and go.'

She then turned and smiled warmly at the nervous brown-haired girl.

'Are you ready? You can borrow some money from Harry's vault, Merlin knows he's got some to spare.' Harry frowned, and kissed her on the cheek, 'Ginny, it's _our_ money, it's o_ur_ vault. We're _married_, remember?' he kissed her on the lips, and she giggled like a school-girl, 'And of course, Veronica, you can borrow some.'

'Ooh! Daddy, can I get an owl?' Lily cried in excitement.

'Well,' he looked at her tiredly, 'I suppose since James has Arrow,' he wrinkles his nose at the name, 'and Albus has, what's his name? Hoot? Yeah, we all thought that was _very_ creative.' He said sarcastically, 'Well, I suppose you'll need one too. And you, Veronica.'

Veronica was startled; they were going to buy her an owl? Her eyes were round with excitement, when a loud groan was heard from the back of the room.

Harry glanced over Ginny's red head at Dudley, 'Ah, I forgot. Not a fan of owls, are you?'

'Nah, it's fine, if everyone else has one.'

Veronica beamed at her father, as Aunt Ginny glanced at her watch and pulled James over to the fire, 'Come on! Diagon Alley!' and she handed him a fistful of green powder. He stepped into the flames confidently, and threw the fist holding the powder down, shouting, 'Diagon Alley!'

Green flames rose over him, and when they settled, down, he was gone.

Veronica gasped, and cowered against her Aunt Ginny, who, somehow, seemed to be standing right behind her.

'Don't worry, kiddo. It's not half-bad.' Veronica opened her eyes to see Harry watching her. Just do as James did, here,' he grabbed Albus's arm and pulled him forward, 'Albus will show you.'

And so Veronica did it, accomplishing her first magical deed.

* * *

**Please review! Reviews are the best, they make my day.**


	3. Chapter 3: Diagon Alley

**Hello! Enjoy, please review**

* * *

'Where are they?' asked Ginny, as the group assembled, 'Meant to be here two minutes ago.'

Just as she was saying that, the Weasley family came bustling through the solid wall. Veronica gaped, before realizing there was an arch in the wall, and then gasped again as the arch sealed itself.

A group full of bushy hair and ginger heads made its way hastily towards them, and Veronica found that she was unfamiliar with the family.

'Ron! Hermione!' Harry rushed forward, grinning.

'Hey,' said the tactless Ron, 'Who's the brunette?'

Veronica felt herself blush, as a young, ginger, bushy-haired girl squealed and ran to Albus. 'Al! I haven't seen you for a month!'

'Er.' Albus looked highly embarrassed, and squirmed away, 'God, Rose! You're embarrassing me!'

Rose scowled a little, with a pre-teen-ish air about her, 'Shut it, Al.'

Ron, Hermione and Harry were all smiling and catching up.

'Hey,' The bushy-haired woman, Hermione suddenly called, 'Veronica, come here.'

Veronica stumbled over, blushing madly as she tripped over her own feet.

'It's okay,' said the woman kindly. The ginger man nudged her, 'Don't treat er like you'd do a house-elf.'

'Ron! Don't be ridiculous. I'm just being _nice_!'

Veronica stood before the trio, looking at the ground.

'Here, I'll introduce you. Hugo, Rose, come here!'

The red-haired children stomped over; the girl, Rose, looking annoyed, and the boy, Hugo, looked confused.

'What is it, mum?' asked Rose in irritation.

'This is Veronica. She's a second-cousin to Albus, James and Lily.'

'Oh. So she's a Dursley?' asked Hugo, who seemed to have inherited Ron's tactlessness.

'Hugo! Be nice.' Said Ron, glaring at his son.

'Sorry, dad.'

'Anyways, she's a witch. And she'll be going this year, with Lily and you, Hugo. So be nice, maybe you'll be in the same House!'

'Remember, Hugo, if you're not in Gryffindor, we'll disinherit you.'

'Ronald!'

'What's Gryffindor?' interrupted Veronica, speaking for the first time.

'Oh, it's a House. When you arrive, you're sorted according to your personality.

And so it went, the three adults explaining, whilst the two children butted in.

'And how,' inquired Veronica after a detailed description of every House, 'do you get Sorted?'

'Ah, that, my niece, is a secret.' Said Harry, with a wink.

James ran up to Rose, pocking her in the small of her back. 'Hey!' she cried indignantly, glaring daggers at James, who was now going into his fifth year.

'Can we shop?' he asked in irritation.

'Sure, c'mon kids.'

They first went to Gringotts, and Veronica swore she heard her uncle mutter, 'I still can't believe they let us back in here,'

How much did she not know about her uncle? It seemed like he left a lot out.

Veronica gasped when she saw the money in her uncle's vault, 'What do you do?' she asked before she could stop herself, and was called a 'true Weasley if I ever saw one' for her blush. 'I'm an Auror!' he had told her proudly, 'Dark Wizard catcher.'

Then they went to Flourish and Blotts, where veronica, again, blushed beetroot, when it slipped out that she wanted a biography of her uncle, though she got one in the end.

They continued on, buying writing supplies, cauldrons, potion ingredients and more.

'Okay!' Ginny yelled to the loud group, 'Madam Malkin's! Who needs new robes?'

Veronica, Lily, Hugo and James raised their hands.

'Okay, Albus, Lily, you can go with Hermione to buy Divination supplies, James will come along in a second.' Said Harry, and added as an audible undertone to Ron, 'Don't know why McGonagall's keeping the subject. It's obvious she thinks it's phony.'

They chuckled and then turned their attention to the kids.

'Go on, get moving!' exclaimed Ron.

Veronica, lily and Hugo chatted as they entered the shop, whilst James remained quiet, not wanting to be seen talking to first years.

Eventually, he slowed to the pace of his father, 'Why isn't the press here? They normally hound us!'

Harry glanced at him slyly, 'That, James, is a secret,' he said elusively.

James scowled, and gave his father the cold shoulder.

'James first!' said Ginny, 'so he can get to the others for Divination.'

Soon Hugo was sporting his new robes, and plucking at the fabric as Lily was being measured.

'Here you are,' said Madam Malkin kindly, 'Come here, dear.'

Veronica stepped forward and held out her arms as Lily had done. Before she knew it, she was dressed in a soft, draping cloak, with the Hogwarts crest.

'Harry, you and Ron take this lot to get wands, I'll tell Hermione to meet us at Eeylops.'

This was what Veronica was looking forward to, and it was soon evident that Hugo and Lily were, too.

'A wand, daddy! I'm gonna have my own!' Lily beamed up at Harry, who smiled, 'Yeah, lucky thing old Ollivander is still around, nearly died when we rescued him.'

He and Ron shared a look, and herded the three children, now chatting animatedly about Houses, towards the wand shop.

Three wands later, they emerged from the shop, Veronica now clutching a twelve inch, flexible, Dragon Heartstring core wand to her heart, smiling as though Christmas had came early. To her, this was proof. Mr. Ollivander had told her that the wand chose the wizard, and a wand had chosen her, meaning she _was_ a witch!

Lily was skipping along singing, 'I'm getting an owl, I'm getting an owl!' with Hugo running after her, brandishing his wand, crying, 'Behold! We shall fight to the death.'

Lily stopped singing, and pulled out her wand, a sly smile on her face, 'Do you dare?' she teased, stopping to face Hugo, 'Dare you take on the daughter of the almighty hero?'

Veronica, feeling brave, joined them, 'I, too, have come to join the scrimmage, daughter of the all-time boxing champion, and niece of the almighty hero?'

'The duel will begin Bow to defeat, young witches. It is only polite. And we fight!'

Concentrating all her energy, Veronica managed to make red sparks splutter out of her wand; Hugo and Lily managed the same.

The two men strolling along took no notice of the battling children, caught up in a conversation, and veronica found herself eavesdropping, though she coud hardly hear over the roaring in her ears from the effort of keeping the sparks going.

'Can't tell… Gin disagrees… after Christmas…not as bad as Voldemort…' said Harry, and Ron shuttered. She'd heard enough from Hugo to know that hardly anyone said the name 'Voldemort' and Harry was unusual for doing so.

The children's sparks faded, and they straightened up, all exhausted. Veronica continued to listen, straining her ears.

'…Come with?'

'I'm not as good as you. And you're much higher in the office than me.'

'Yeah, but they told me to pick my team. Come on, it'll be like old times!'

'I'll ask Hermione.'

'Maybe she can get time off and come.'

'She's too busy.'

The hoot of a thousand owls made the men stop talking, the others were waiting impatiently outside.

'Owls!' squealed the three first years together, and they ran forward.

Veronica ran in, and immediately spotted a barn owl that hooted happily when she came near, and gave her an affectionate nip.

'Uncle Harry!' she shouted across the uproar of screeching birds, 'Can I have this one?'

Harry nodded, and tossed her a few galleons. A few minutes later, the owl was hers.

Lily chose a pure white one, and Veronica noticed Harry looking at it with a wistful expression, and Hugo got a dark, almost completely black one. They walked out, talking about names for them. Hugo decided on 'Raven' for his because it 'sounds bloody awesome,' and Veronica thought about Latin, which she had been excelling at muggle school, and called hers Malus, which translated to 'bad,' or 'naughty' because that was what her mum and grandparents would think she was when they saw it.

Lily, however couldn't decide, and grew more and more antsy, until Harry suggested Hedwig Jr because that was the name of his owl.

They crowd chattered, until Rose and Albus tugged on Harry and Ron's robes, 'There's Scorpius, dad, can we go say hi?' asked Albus.

Harry looked over, and Veronica watched his eyes narrow at the young pale boy with his pale, stiff father.

'Look Al, I've been supportive, much more supportive than Ron, anyways,' he winked, and Veronica could hear Ron saying something to Rose that sounded like, 'Fraternizing with the enemy!' Harry smiled at his friend, 'But I draw the line here. I'm not about to go up to Draco Malfoy,' his mouth turned down into an uncharacteristic frown, 'so you can see your friend. I'm sorry, but Draco's an old school enemy, as well as someone who I saved the life of twice, and a Death Eater I fought against. You'll see Scorpius at Hogwarts.'

Albus nodded his understanding, but couldn't help himself to saying, 'But he's nice! He helped Rose out when they were calling her a Blood Traitor!'

'No matter, Albus.' Said Harry shortly, his lips pinched into a tight line.

Albus scowled a little , and walked over to Rose, dragging her away from her father, whom Veronica thought she heard say, 'Viktor Krum all over again!'

Lily tapped on her father's shoulder, though she had to jump to reach it, 'Dad, can we go see Uncle George, and Aunt Angie, and Freddy?'

Harry heaved a great sigh, and nodded, 'Sure, we can go to Weasley Wizard Weases if you want.'

* * *

**Please, please, please review!**


	4. Chapter 4: Weasley's Wizard Wheezes

**Hello, everybody!**

* * *

Everything in Diagon Alley so far had been exciting-looking, thought Veronica, it had captured her attention, she had dragged her uncle to every store, but all those decorations paled next to Weasley Wizard Wheezes.

Veronica was surprised to see a large grin spread across Ron's face, and a mischievous gleam in his eye, 'I used to work here,' he said reminiscently, 'It's really George's, but I helped right after Fred… anyways, Angelina and Lee are the big helpers now.'

The kids look eagerly at the door, and Harry waves a dismissive hand, 'Go on. Tell whoever's out there that the Potter, and Weasley families are here, no doubt George and Angelina will want to say hi.'

All the young magicals rush towards the door, and Veronica is swept along with the tide.

The adults hurried in after them, Veronica's aunt yelling at James for teasing Lily about Wonder Witch.

'Mumma!' said a little red-head, 'Mummy, can I have a Pygmy Puff?'

Ginny smiled at her husband, and looked at Lily, 'Of course! I had one when I was your age, I called him Arnold.' Three of the adults snigger, while the fourth looked at them angrily, a blush reaching his ginger hair.

'Oh, come off it, Ron! We all know you don't have a Pygmy Puff tattooed to your chest.'

'Shut up.'

'Oh, hey, reminds me, _what did you teach James to say_?'

'Oh, um… hey, George, get over here! We have a new addition!'

A man in a purple dragon-skin cloak and a top hat that was so tall, it almost hit the ceiling, which was saying something, as the room was quite high, swaggered over, followed by a witch in hot pink robes and witch-hat. She giggled, blushing a little, 'See what being married to George does to you?' she asked, laughing with the other adults.

'Angie, you know you love it!' said the ginger man, who Veronica took to be George. He jumped up a bit, his hat smashing against the roof, to get a look at the blushing veronica, 'Who's she?' he asked bluntly, turning to Harry, 'Adopt another? I though Teddy would've filled that hole.'

'Nah, she's Veronica Dursley.'

'Oh. She's a Dursley? How in bloody hell is she a _witch_?'

'Well, I mean, Dudley's my cousin, I'm a wizard…'

'She's Dudley's? Bet he was happy to find out, eh?' he turned to Veronica, who was as pink as the witch, Angelina's, robes, 'What'd he say? And what did you grandparents say? Oh! I'd love to have seen their faces! You know, Fred and I once gave Duds a Ton-Tongue toffee, hilarious! There's some for sale, if you want to see. Bet your daddy'd love seeing them again!' he grinned a mischievous grin, and despite what he'd said, Veronica found herself really liking him.

'We didn't tell my grandparents.' She admitted sheepishly, George guffawed.

Another red-head appeared by his side, 'What's so funny, dad?'

George patted his son's head absent-mindedly, 'Nothing. But we're packing tonight, and before I forget, be sure to pack loads of our indoor fireworks. You didn't get in enough trouble last year.'

Veronica gaped, how she wished her father was like that.

'Now run off, you little scamp! The kids are here somewhere, why don't you show them your latest invention?'

The boy scampered out of sight, and George smiled proudly, 'Freddy invented come stuff himself! They were just like Canary Creams, the ones Fred and I made one year, but he's a year younger than we were. Smart kid, that one. He'll take over the family business someday.'

George stopped talking as he became aware of his wife's scowl, 'tell me you don't tell him that every year! He'll miss training for Quidditch of you keep encouraging him to be naughty! And he's just become Beater. Enough training, and he'll ba as good as you were.'

'You, Angel, are obsessed with Freddy's Quidditch life, aren't you? Give it a rest.'

Angelina retorted, and soon the two were bickering loudly, though, strangely enough, with smiles on their faces.

'Veronica, why don't you run along?'

Veronica left the strange couple and chatting grown ups to wonder around. It was incredible! Soon, she too was ready to beg for a Pygmy Puff, and her basket now contained five items; pimple remover potion (get rid of acne of any kind in two seconds!), Daydreaming kit (Absolutely no side effects!), Ton-Tongue Toffees (She quite fancied showing them to her dad), a shield hat (James had taken to describing the multiple duels he'd been in), and a Skiving Snack Box ('They've got the whole lot! All in one box. I tell you, Veronica, you're gonna want these. Professor Binns is _still _teaching!' said Albus.).

'George,' Harry called as he assembled the kids outside. A ginger head, now without the hat, popped out of the doorway, 'Thought you might want to come for a butterbeer at the Leaky Cauldron. You know Hannah owns it now, and she's Neville's wife. Bound to give us a discount, right. And who knows, we might bump into Neville, too.'

George nodded, and disappeared out of view for a moment, reappearing with Angelina, now in respectable deep plum, dragon-skin robes, and Freddy, in forest-green.

Munchkin nestled against Veronica's neck, and she smiled. Ginny had bought her her very own, red Pygmy Puff.

The Leaky Cauldron had a warm, welcoming feel about it, and it was immediately clear that the others knew it well.

'Hey! There's Neville and Hannah!'

Harry waved at a round-faced man and blonde woman, both of whom had wide smiles, though the blonde had a look of nervousness as well.

'Neville! Hey, over here!'

The couple made their way over, and Neville gave the four adults brief hugs.

'When'll the biography be out, Neville?' asked Harry. Neville shook his head.

'I've no idea why they're bothering to do a life-story on me! Its ridiculous!'

Harry smiled, about to respond, when his son piped up, 'Dad! I got you and Ron again! Can I trade? I _always_ get you two!'

They had each gotten Chocolate Frogs earlier; Veronica had gotten Hermione Granger, and Albus Dumbledore.

'Albus?' she had asked, and everyone had explained at once who he was.

Neville glanced at his wife, and then smiled. 'Guys,' he said quietly, everyone turned to him, 'You can't tell anyone, we don't want anyone to kno-'

'Then don't tell James!' exclaimed Rose.

Neville shook his head, 'It'll get out anyways. But Hannah's just told me, she's pregnant!'

Lily squealed, and Harry, Ron and Hermione hurried forward to clap Neville on the back and congratulate Hannah. James, however, wrinkled his nose.

'Ew! Babies!'

Laughing, everyone got large pints of Butterbeer, on the house.

Veronica was brought back to her house, via muggle car.

She walked through the door stifling a yawn and stumbling around in exhaustion. The moment her head hit her pillow, she was sound asleep.

* * *

**Please review! While I'm writing this, I have ZERO reviews, so please...**


	5. Chapter 5: The Hogwarts Express

**Thank you for all the lovely reviews! I tried to include some requests, and put a bit of dudley in this chapter.**

* * *

Weeks pasted in a blur; she spent time with her dad, though substantially less with her mum, and used Malus to communicate with Lily, although she did not see her properly.

Finally, the morning Veronica had so eagerly awaited was upon her; September the first.

She awoke to the special alarm Lily had sent her for her belated eleventh birthday, singing a wake-up song to her. She opened a blurry eye, for a moment forgetting what day it was, before leaping from her covers with a squeal of delight.

Grabbing a hair-brush at random (She had over seventeen) and running it through her wavy, light brown hair, she began dressing at top-speed, simply because she wanted to see her friends as soon as possible.

'_Time to rise, oh how time flies! The night is gone, the sun is high!_' sang her clock, before she chirped out, 'up and ready!' the magical word that made it stop.

In her frenzy of excitement, she rushed from the room, and nearly knocked over her father. (Which was quite an achievement, as he was still the size of a rather small whale.)

'Oh! Sorry dad!' she said hastily, picking herself up from the floor.

'It's okay. I was just coming to wake you. Though don't tell your mother.' He winked at her. Veronica stared at him in confusion, so he continued, 'she didn't want me to wake you, I think,' he dropped his voice, 'she was hoping you'd miss the train!'

He leaned in closer, and whispered very quietly, 'Grandma and grandpa dropped in for a surprise. Tell them you're going to a Swiss boarding school.'

And with that, he waddled into the kitchen, with Veronica gaping in his wake. She hadn't seen Grammy and Grandpa Vernon since before she knew the truth about herself, and she had heard, from her uncle, that they once tried to throttle him when they heard about his magic.

She walked shakily towards the kitchen door, scared out of her wits, before stopping abruptly.

What was she so scared of? They were _old,_ for God's sake! They couldn't hurt her! And her father would stop them if they did. She was a witch! Surely extraordinary things would happen if they tried to hurt her?

And besides, Veronica scolded herself; they weren't even going to know anyways.

So Veronica Dursley marched into the kitchen with her head held high.

'Hello darling!' cried a horse-faced lady with curling white hair.

'Mm.' Mumbled the almost-bald man with grey fuzz around the edge of his head, his mouth full of toast.

Veronica nodded, and glanced at her father, who smiled encouragingly.

'Why are you up so early, darling? And all dressed?' inquired Petunia, smiling politely at the green-eyed girl.

'I am leaving for boarding school today!' replied Veronica, in what she hoped was a proud voice.

'Goodness! And Gaby's okay with you being so far away?'

'She doesn't like it, but she understands.' Interjected Dudley, looking anxious.

'Well,' said Petunia, looking suspicious at Veronica.

'What's the date today?' interrupted Vernon brusquely, and Dudley looked ready to refuse to answer.

'September first, hone- oh! But no…' Petunia looked at Veronica with a wild expression on her face, just as, to Veronica's extreme horror, Malus hooted.

'NO!' gasped Vernon, leaping up and glaring at Veronica, and then at Dudley.

'You!' he shrieked, pointing a stubby finger at his own son, 'You created a _freak_!? Why didn't you pound it out of her?' he moved towards veronica, hands outstretched.

'Another one?' spat Petunia, going as purple as Vernon, 'You introduced another of those little freaks into our family? She's an insult to our name! Get her out of my sight!' she screamed, completely irrational with rage.

Veronica had expected her father to stand up for her if things got messy, if she were in harms way, but nothing more. That's why she was astonished to see the fury written on his face, and the anger gleaming in his eyes. 'This girl,' he pulled Veronica forward, 'This _freak_ is my daughter. I love her! And if anyone is getting out of anyone's sight, it's you two. You are forbidden from coming here ever again! Maybe, just maybe, I'll forgive you, but for now, GET THE HELL OUT OF MY SIGHT!' he raised a muscly arm, his hands balled into fists. 'Get out,' he said in a soft, menacing voice.

Vernon and Petunia cleared from the house in a rush, and Veronica gawped at her father.

'Get your trunk out here.' He said curtly, and Veronica, who was not keen to be around her father whilst he was in a mood, scarpered from the kitchen, her scrambled eggs untouched.

The mob of students were closing in, and the three youngsters huddled together nervously. Questions were flying through the air, getting jumbled together, until only a few words could be heard.

Cameras flashed everywhere they looked, and it seemed every student on the train was taking part in their capture.

If they thought the press had been bad on the platform, they were sadly mistaken.

Here, inside the scarlet train, was where it was bad. Every student seemed to have been awaiting their arrival, and each student had a question prepared.

Well, thought Veronica, not really _a _question, but rather twenty-five each.

'What's Harry Potter like at home?' someone asked, and Lily, who looked on the brink of tears, opened her mouth desperately to answer, but veronica nudged her hard, 'Don't answer!' she hissed, 'If you answer one, the others will want you to answer theirs!'

Lily nodded, and shut her mouth hastily.

'What's going on here?' asked a drawling voice, and the crowd parted to reveal the pale boy from Diagon Alley.

He shook his head sadly, 'Give 'em space! They're only first years!'

The crowd did not budge, so the boy shoved his way through until he reached the petrified kids.

He smiled at each of them in turn, and began fighting his way through the mob, with the three children in tow. Finally, he pulled them into an empty compartment, and cast a charm on the door so the prying hands gained no access. After while, they relented.

'Thank you!' gasped Hugo, beaming at the pale boy, 'I thought James was exaggerating. Hey, you're Scorpius Malfoy!'

'Wow, I never realized, thank you for helping me come to that conclusion.' Said the boy, Scorpius, dryly. Lily tittered nervously.

'No, but you're Rose's friend! She went on about you _all_ summer!'

Scorpius looked momentarily flustered at the revelation, but soon recovered, 'And what did your dad do? He didn't seem so keen on me last time we met.'

'Well, no. He wasn't too happy, I suppose.'

'Ha! Well, Albus and Rose are waiting for me, right outside,' he waved at the window, and Veronica became aware of two third years waiting outside.

'Take care.' He called, opening the door, 'You'll be able to get out, I've taken off the charm.'

He walked out, and Veronica heard him saying to rose, 'Talked about me _all_ summer, did you?'

As soon as the door shut, Hugo started talking at record-speed.

The three chatted until they were interrupted by the call, 'Anything from the trolley, dears? Anything from the trolley?'

They bought the lot; from pumpkin pasties to Bertie Botts Every Flavour Beans.

'Hey Veronica, I was wondering if we could get you a nickname, it's just, Veronica's a bit of a mouth-full.'

'Of course. I'm named after my grandfather,' her mind wandered to the events of that morning, 'and so it's fine. But I don't know what you'd call me.'

'What about Ronnie?'

'Nah.'

'Nikki?' Lily suggested.

'Not really me, is it?'

'Vera?' Asked Hugo doubtfully, his mouth full of pasty.

'No!'

'Ron?' he said absent-mindedly.

'You kidding?'

'Well,' started Hugo defensively, 'You're picky!'

'Vi. What about Vi?' asked Lily quietly.

'Yeah! I like Vi!'

'Vi it is.' Said Hugo sourly, clearly upset that it wasn't his idea that was chosen.

Vi beamed, and grabbed a chocolate frog, receiving Kingsley Shacklebolt.

'Ooh! I need him! He's the Minister of Magic, you know. Can I have him?'

'Uh…'

'C'mon! He's a friend of my dad, and mum.'

'Oh please!' piped up Lily, 'Your mum, maybe, but your dad's spoken no more than a word to him. My dad's quite close to him, though.'

'Are you saying your dad's better than mine?' asked Hugo furiously.

'Did I ever say that?' replied Lily softly, her eyes flashing, quite like her mother, 'No. Nor will you ever hear me say so. I simply stated the fact that your dad is not friends with Kingsley, and mine is.'

Oh, okay.' Mumbled Hugo, looking at Lily wearily, 'Well, Vi, can I please have the frog?'

'Uh… I don't know, I mean, the guy's quite close with my uncle.' Vi said jokingly, though she did want to keep the card.

'Oh come _off_ it!' grumbled Hugo, rolling his eyes. 'That's rubbish.'

'Shut up, Hugo!' growled Lily, standing up for Vi, who beamed at her.

The cousins bickered for a while longer, and Veronica's mind wandered, landing on Scorpius. He must get bored with Rose and Albus's bickering. She'd watched the cousins enough to know that's basically all they did.

'Hugo, get out.' Said Lily abruptly, startling Vi, as only seconds ago they had been guessing each other's houses.

'Well _that's_ not very nice, is it?' he asked reproachfully.

'No, I mean, because we need to change into our Hogwarts uniform.'

'Oh.'

Vi chortled to herself.

One finicky blouse-button later, Lily and Vi evacuated the compartment as Hugo changed.

When alone, Lily admitted something she had not with Hugo around, 'What if I'm in Slytherin?' she asked anxiously.

'The Hat lets you choose.' said a voice behind them, and two bright green eyes appeared behind Lily's shoulder.

'Al!' Lily squealed, and was in such a state of anxiety that she gave him a hug, tears in her eyes.

Albus patted her back awkwardly, and said soothingly, 'Dad told me, when I was worried. And it's true. I asked for Gryffindor and it gave it to me.'

'What hat?' asked Vi curiously, looking at Albus.

'Oh, dad told us all, he can't keep a secret for the life of him, but we aren't supposed to tell Hugo, Hermione's very efficient with keeping tradition.' He grinned over Lily's red hair.

He gave a quick, lacking explanation of the Sorting Hat, and when they reentered the compartment some five minutes later, they were far more relaxed.

* * *

**Please reviews, I love reviews!**


	6. Chapter 6: The Sorting Hat

**This chapter isn't the best, but the next one will have the start of Vi's (Or Veronica's) adventures at Hogwarts.**

* * *

'Firs' years! Firs' years over here!' cried a great, booming voice as they left the train.

'Hagrid!' squealed Hugo and Lily together, their heads swiveling around.

'There he is!' yelled Hugo over the chaotic chattering of others. Vi looked in the direction he was pointing, and yelped in fright, for there stood a giant of a man.

'Who's he?' she wondered incredibly, wondering why Lily and Hugo weren't more scared.

'He's a good friend of our parents, sometimes we see him in the holidays.' Explained Lily, catching her drift.

The large man's eyes came to rest on the group of three, and he beamed down at them. 'Lily, Hugo! Over 'ere!'

Lily and Hugo grinned at each other, and begin to make their way over to Hagrid, Veronica following reluctantly.

'Hey, kids! Good ter see yeh!' Vi, who had been cowering behind Hugo, was surprised by the warmth and kindness in the man's voice.

'Who's yer friend? Seems scared.'

Bright red, the light-brown haired girl stepped bravely away from Hugo, 'Hello, sir. My name is-'

'Don't tell him!' cried Hugo, and then turned to the beaming man, 'Guess who she is, Hagrid. Guess!'

'C'mon, Hugo! There's a million people she could be!'

'Come on, Hagrid. Three guesses and we'll tell you.'

'Fine. Is she an Abbott? I heard she has a kid coming soon.'

'No,' said Lily, 'Jess is coming next year.'

'Er… Is she from the Bell family?'

'Nope.'

'Okay, this's 'ard. Is she a… you know, I wouldn' be ter surprised if she were a Malfoy.'

'Sorry, no. Dad would flip if another one of us made friends with a Malfoy.' Laughed Hugo.

'Okay, you ready?' He did a sort of drum roll on his stomach, and Vi, who was tired of the guessing, whacked him on the shoulder.

'I'm a person, you know! Not an object.'

'Fine,' Hugo grumbled, "Hagrid, this is Veronica Dursley.'

Hagrid stared at Vi incredulously, and leaned close to her, peering into her eyes, and inspecting her face and hair, as though looking for a telltale sign of Dursley-ness.

'Not possible.' He said flatly, straightening up, and looking at the crowd of nervous first-years around him, all talking amongst themselves.

'It's true, sir. My father is Dudley Dursley. I was sent a Hogwarts letter not long ago. If you think about it, you should've expected it. Magical blood does run in my veins. Uncle Harry is my first-cousin-once-removed, so the statistics are actually quite high for me becoming a witch.' she rambled, regretting her 'brave move' of correcting the large man's statement. To her surprise, and relief, Hagrid started laughing. 'If I didn' know better, I'd say yeh were related to Hermione! Well, come on first years! Yeh all here? Let's go.' He added, looking at the anxious youngsters around him.

XXX

A majestic boat-ride and spectacular view of Hogwarts later, the man from the Leaky Cauldron was grinning at them all.

'I'm Professor Longbottom. Welcome to Hogwarts. The Sorting will begin soon.'

Lily and Vi exchanged look of excitement, they were some of the few to know what was going to happen. Hugo looked slightly green, and was taking deep, deliberate breaths. Vi wanted desperately to tell him, but knew Aunt Hermione, as she now called her, would kill her.

They all peered around, trying to see what was on the stage, and Vi at once spotted the hat and stool. Soon everyone else had too.

A few seconds later, a rip opened wide, and the Hat began to sing, startling all the whispering kids.

Vi, feeling suddenly nervous, zoned out during it's song, now worrying about her fate, what if this hat didn't care about her opinion? What if it put her in Slytherin?

Yes, it said '_Slytherin, the ambitious, are no longer half bad.'_ But still, it was still the worst House, in Vi's opinion. Everyone would hate her if she went to Slytherin.

Professor Longbottom's voice, and the sudden absence of the song jolted Vi back to the present.

'Aaron, Linus!' he called, and a small, pale boy wobbled across the stage to the bench.

The Hat promptly called, 'Hufflepuff!'

Avery, Jane was considered for a full minute before being announced a Ravenclaw,

Bardley, Seth was Sorted to Slytherin before the Hat even reached his tan ears.

Finally, 'Dursley, Veronica!'

An outbreak of whispers spread across the hall:

'Dursley? Like Harry Potter's relatives?' 'No way, no Dursley can be a witch!' and 'Ridiculous.' could be heard, but Vi hardly noticed as she walked towards the stool, her legs trembling dangerously, but her chin held high.

She sat on the stool, and the Hat was placed on her head, slipping down to her nose.

'What have we here?' Vi nearly fell off the stool as the hat began to speak, 'Ah, bravery. An incredible trait, very useful. But you've got brains, too, and you're loyal. Even got a pinch of ambition! Well, not a pinch, you've got loads of it. A desperate need to prove yourself. You'd do well anywhere, but I suppose I have to choose.' The voice ceased as the Hat mulled each House over. 'Well, I've made my decision, you're a' Vi held her breath, somehow sensing that this decision was final, 'Gryffindor!' it shouted out loud, and pulling the Hat off quickly, Vi rushed over, and sat down at the cheering table, not noticing, or caring, who she sat next to. All the same, she was nestled next to a smiling Albus, and a laughing James, as well as Rose.

'Good for you, Dursley!' shouted James, 'You got the only House worth being in.'

So light of heart, Vi beamed at the jokester, weak with relief.

'I wonder how Lily will do?' James wondered allowed, 'I'd really like her to be here.'

Not long after, lily scampered down to Vi, smiling broadly. James actually gave her a hug, grinning proudly at her rosy face, 'I knew you'd be a Gryffindor, Lils!'

Lily and Vi watched the rest of the Sorting, until it came to Hugo, who walked out looking as though he wanted nothing less than to be swallowed up by the floor.

The hat hardly touched his head, before screaming 'Gryffindor!'

Hugo was so excited, he forgot to take the Hat off, and the crowd exploded with laughter as he hurried back, the colour of a ripe tomato.

A she handed the Hat back, looking like he wanted to drop dead, Professor Longbottom whispered something that made his eyes widen.

Eventually, he squeezed in between Lily and Vi, beaming at Rose, 'I did it! I'm in Gryffindor!' Rose smiled back and gave him a high-five.

When Rose turned away, he whispered quietly to Vi and Lily, with a look of wonder on his face, 'He said he walked away with the Hat on, too! Can you believe it? Dad has told me Professor Longbottom was very nervous when he was little, but look at him now! He's head of Gryffindor!'

Vi chortled happily, still unable to believe her luck; Gryffindor, her!

'You know,' James turned to Albus, 'Teddy said he would drop in at Hogsmeade, you'll be allowed to go and see him!'

'I want to see Teddy!' cried Lily sadly. James snickered.

'You know you will, McGonagall loves Teddy, you know, because he was a model student. I'm sure he'll be let in.'

'Who's McGonagall?' asked vi in wonder.

'She's the headmistress. See the old lady with the grey hair? That's her. She refuses to retire, and even though she's the headmistress, she still teaches Transfiguration! We've always wondered how she managed it all.'

Cheers from the Ravenclaw table, as Amy Zambian was sorted, interrupted their conversation.

After the ruckus died down, the grey-haired strict-looking woman stood up.

'Welcome, and welcome back, to Hogwarts! There will be time for speeches, of course, but this is not the time. Eat up!'

Vi looked around in confusion; there was no food! James, seeming to know what she was thinking wnked and held up one finger, two fingers, and as he put up the third, the sudden aroma of roast beef and gravy, mashed potatoes and brussel sprouts, hit Veronica like a bullet.

James chuckled at her expression, and started piling everything onto his plate.

Hugo copied his actions, and began shoving food into his mouth, 'ib in 'i! 's reawy goob!' he murmured through the large amounts of mashed potato in his mouth.

Vi looked at him quizzically whilst Rose snorted, 'You've definitely got dad's stomach.' She laughed, turning away.

Hugo gave a huge swallow, and gasped, 'I said "dig in, Vi, it's really good.' And you should! It's delicious!'

'I'm generally surprised you didn't just choke, Hugo! Be careful!' she replied, her voice a little difficult to understand; she was laughing very hard.

After gorging on a delicious tea, and scrumptious treacle tart, the food disappeared altogether, and Professor McGonagall stood up.

Veronica was now so sleepy, she hardly listened, only absorbing information at random places; 'All the new students should be reminded, and some of the older ones too,' he eyes slid over James, Hugo and Rose, all of whom sniggered, 'That the Forbidden Forest is out of bounds. Rubeus Hagrid, Games Keeper, lives near the forest, and will see anyone trying to get in.'

James laughed, his eyes twinkling with mischievous light, 'Not with my invisibility cloak, he won't!'

Ten minutes later, the first years were hustled off to the Gryffindor tower, where they collapsed into bed, asleep before their heads hit their pillows.

* * *

**Please, please, please, please, ****_please _****review!**


	7. Chapter 7: First Day

**Sorry it's been a while! I stayed up really late trying to finish this, so sorry if it's not the best...**

* * *

I can't wait 'til second year! I'm going to try out for the Quidditch team!' babbled Hugo as the three friends headed towards the Great Hall.

'I would, too, but I don't suppose it's a good thing James is captain.' Said Lily morosely, a sorrowful air about her.

Veronica just smiled, Hugo had already given her an in-depth description, and she wasn't sure she wanted to play.

'Hey, wait, James is captain?' she asked, looking at Hugo and Lily, both of whom grinned.

'Didn't he tell you?' questioned Hugo.

'He mentioned it to _me _a few times.' Lily muttered absent-mindedly.

'Or a million times, Lil.' Called a voice, and a girl behind them with strawberry-blond hair and an impossibly beautiful face grinned, stooping down to their level.

'Victoire!' cried Lily, wrapping her arms around the tall girl's waist, 'Why didn't you stop by the compartment? Surely Albus told you where we were?'

'No, I haven't seen anyone yet, I was on Head-Girl duties.'

'You didn't tell us!' shouted Hugo angrily, 'Why didn't you tell us?'

'I didn't tell you because I'm not James.' She replied, rolling her eyes, 'Is that Veronica Dursley?'

'Yeah.' Lily nudged her, and Vi stepped forward.

'Hi, I'm Vi.'

'Nice to meet you, Vi. I'd better get back to the Ravenclaw table.'

The sleek girl walked away, and Lily grinned at Vi, 'she's dating Teddy, you know. Teddy told me he wants to propose once she finishes school. Then Teddy will be a proper part of the family!'

Still beaming, Lily plopped down at the Gryffindor table, helping herself to some eggs.

XXX

'Where is it?' whimpered Lily desperately as the staircase shifted again. 'I wish we had Daddy's map, but James got it first.'

'Someone say my name?' asked an amused voice behind them, and James tapped Vi on the shoulder with a grin.

'C'mon, I'll show you the way.'

'Shouldn't you be in class?'

'Nah, Hagrid said I was excused until I was sure you were all delivered safely. I'm not missing much, just Flobberworms.'

Hugo nodded his understanding and the four started down a hidden corridor.

A few twists and turns later, James beckons towards a door, 'I think class has already started. Good luck.'

The three exchanged panicky looks before opening the door, 'Sorry we're late, miss!' they chorused together, gazing at the stern teacher before them. To their surprise, she smiled slightly, 'Your father's son, surely, Weasley, and the same for you, Potter. Come in. You're lucky, there are more to come.'

The younglings scrambled or seats and stared at their professor with rapt attention.

'Today, you three, we will be transfiguring quills into needles. The incantation is on the board. You're late.' She added, rounding on five children who had been chatting outside the door.

At the end of class, they all managed to transfigure their quills, although Hugo's had had a feathery end.

Next was History of Magic, where a ghost called Professor Binns droned on endlessly. They met the rest of the Weasley-Potter family for lunch.

'You guys coming for try-outs?' asked James easily, leaning back in his chair, 'because I am the captain.' He said importantly.

'I would,' replied Lily in annoyance, 'But first-years aren't allowed!'

'So? Dad made the team when he was a first-year! And he says I'm as good a Seeker as he was. If I had got a chance in my first year I probably would've been an exception like Dad.'

'Sure you would have.' Lily retorted sarcastically, 'I'm sure they'd have loved to see you fall off your broom. Would've made _quite_ the impression.'

James scowled and hopped up. 'I've got to go; Freddy, Roxy and I are doing some homework. Oh, here comes Roxy!'

'Who's Roxy?' Veronica murmured quietly in Lily's ear.

'Oh, she's Freddy's twin! Younger by five minutes and thirty-two seconds.'

'Oh…'

'She's been sick with Dragon Pox for a while, but she made a full recovery a week ago. She's quite behind in homework, but she and Freddy aren't too bothered, they love tricks. Albus told me all the teachers call them the new 'Fred and George', you see, because apparently Uncle George and his twin were tricksters, but Fred died in the battle of Hogwarts. Anyways, James is really close to Roxanne and Freddy, but he cares a little bit more about school-work than them.' Lily rambled, giving Vi the entire history of Roxanne, and also making it clear that the twins should be admired.

'Well, they sound cool.'

Rose and Albus got up and walked over to the Slytherin table, where a pale boy soon joined them.

'You should've seen Uncle Ron,' giggled Lily, seeing where Vi was watching, 'He was furious that Rose and Albus made friends with a Malfoy. He yelled all sorts of things, and Viktor Krum was pulled into it. Uncle Ron never liked Viktor, but Aunt Hermione has always been sure to keep in contact. Apparently,' she twittered, 'Aunt Hermione and Viktor used to _date_!'

Vi nodded and smiled, keeping up the appearance that she knew who Viktor Krum was, but Lily saw right through it, and began chattering, 'Oh, Viktor was a world-class Seeker for the Bulgarian team and he was also a contestant in…'

XXX

'That was cool.' Exclaimed Vi as she flopped down onto the bed, knackered.

'Yeah,' confirmed Lily drowsily, half-asleep already, 'Tiring, but cool.'

They had had Potions after that, with Professor Murphy, Veronica had proven fantastic at it, it was one of the few things she could beat Lily at, and Charms with Professor Flitwick, who had stared at Vi's name in disbelief for about two minutes before calling it out.

Now, however, with the day's excitement over, they both were completely exhausted from all the discoveries.

'Night, Lil,' slurred Vi, turning onto her side.

'Yeah…' Lily murmured faintly. 'Good night.'

* * *

**Pretty pretty please review! I'd really like to know if this chapter came out alright, I was half-asleep while I wrote a lot of it.**


	8. Chapter 8: Broomsticks

**Hi, this is chapter 8, as you probably already figured out... **

* * *

Vi stood in the Gryffindor common room, surrounded by a pod of first years, craning her neck to get a view of the notice.

It wasn't going well. So far, the only words she'd managed to read were 'First Years Only,' which helped _loads_ because she'd already figured out, thank you very much, that the notice was for first years alone.

Finally, just as she gave up and backed away, leaning against an armchair, Lily emerged from the crowd, looking both terrified and excited. She made her way over to Veronica, gasping slightly.

'Figured out what it was.' She panted, the ordeal of getting within five meters of the Gryffindor noticeboard clearly one of exhaustion. 'Its just telling us that we have flying lessons, with the Snakes.'

Vi cringed slightly at the nerve-racking thought of flying lessons, with the Slytherin, and racked her brain for anything she had learnt in the past week about brooms.

She had learnt loads, not just spells and such- though she'd learnt plenty of that- but about Lily and Hugo; Lily, for one thing, was anything but quiet. She was shy, around strangers, but once you cracked her shell, she'd chat with you for hours, jumping from topic to topic in the blink of an eye. She was loyal, standing by Vi whenever there was problems- she finally confided in Vi that she was considered greatly for Hufflepuff- and she was sweet, in a sometimes-deceitful manner. Quick-witted was a word you could describe the smart redhead with, that was for sure.

And then there was Hugo, and it was obvious within days that he was slightly jealous- well, that's not quite the right word- of Lily and her family, Lily had to be careful, because one mention of her dad's brave deeds and Hugo would accuse her of saying her father was better than his. It was amusing, really. Other than that, Hugo was a jokester, teasing Lily and Vi until they- or rather, just Vi, Lily seemed to have grown immunity to Hugo's jokes- were scarlet. He was funny, although not quite as good at magic as the other two, and was friendly, though noticeably tactless. All in all, she had learnt tons, about her friends, but she hadn't heard so much of a whisper of flying tips from her professors, or friends for that matter, and so Vi fidgeted apprehensively as she sunk deep into the armchair, looking timidly at Lily, who was rocking back and forth on the balls of her feet.

'Tomorrow.' She whispered, squishing in next to Vi. 'What if I'm bad? Hugo will never hear the end of it! And what about Albus and James? James's captain, and Al's one of the best Chasers! Dad and Mum said they don't care if I'm rubbish, but Mum was Chaser for the Holyheads! And Daddy was offered the position of Seeker on all sorts of teams! What if I'm rubbish? What if…'

Vi listened sympathetically as her best friend ranted out her trepidations, but had few words of comfort, as she had similar fears.

'Lils,' she finally interrupted after about twenty minutes, 'If you're not a natural, then I'm bubotuber.' Vi couldn't help beaming; proud of her use of the Herbology plant they were studying.

'Yeah…' murmured Lily, and Vi suspected that she hadn't heard a word, 'and I can borrow James's copy of Quidditch Through the Ages, and I think Al has Uncle Charlie's old copy of Flying Tips for Every Age…' she walked towards the steps, muttering fervently under her breath as she made her way up the _boys _staircase, most likely to take those books she'd mentioned. Veronica smiled in amusement, and gathered her bits of parchment, before setting up at a table, planning to conquer that Transfiguration essay.

XXX

'Shut _up, _Huggy!' Veronica smirked at her scrambled eggs, generally surprised that Lily had made good on her threat. Hugo, clearly, was too.

'Lily!' he cried, leaping up, startling a few of the second years eating next to them, 'Lily, please don't call me that!'

'Why not?' retorted Lily, her face turned the opposite direction, 'I told you I would if you didn't shut up! I told you last night, remember? Or was your Forgetful potion such a disaster that the effects from it exploding in your face have lasted long-term? Anyways, your mum calls you that, I've heard her!'

Hugo growled curses under his breath as his eyes flickered from side-to-side, trying to make sure no one had heard. 'Yeah, but she's my mum!' he hissed.

Vi glanced at Lily, who had turned to take a bite of sausage, and was stunned to see her cheeks flaming pink and her eyes a little watery. Had Hugo touched a nerve? It was evident that Lily was apprehensive about flying, but this much? She noticed Veronica's puzzled gaze and shifted her chin in the other direction as Hugo threw his legs over the side of the bench with a hearty laugh, 'I'm so excited! Aren't you, Lil? I mean, I know I said you'd be rubbish, but I was joking!' he trotted a few steps, then turned back, 'Vi, I'm sure you'll be okay too. Don't worry too much; it'll be a blast. We'll be way better than Bardley, and if he's rude, we'll stick a broomstick up his a-'

'HUGO!' Hugo jumped, and turned around, as the beautiful witch- Victoire, was it? - swept down upon him. 'No swearing! You know what your dad said!'

'You're a kill-joy, Victoire.'

'And you're the life of the party.' Victoire simpered, ruffling Hugo's bright hair. Veronica fervently wished she could be part of the family. Then she could squabble with the Potter-Weasleys as much as she liked and it would just blow over. But no, she was the outsider, and worst still, the daughter of a relative known for being a bully towards the father and uncle of most of the family. Great, just great.

XXX

Madam Bell smiled at them when the group of children assembled out by the castle wall. She grinned at Lily and Hugo, both of whom beamed.

'Hello Ka- Madam Bell!'

'Hey, kids. Who's your friend?'

'Vi, or Veronica.' Chirped the still smiling Lily.

'Oh. Well, don't tell anyone I've said this but _please_, for the sake of Gryffindor pride, beat that tan kid.'

'Bardley, you mean?' asked Hugo, his face distorted in an out-of-place sneer.

'I guess. Well, line up! I can't look like I'm favouring.' And with a wink and a thumbs-up from their teacher, they lined up with the other Gryffindor first years, shooting cold glares at Seth Bardley. Who was telling Angie Perkins, very loudly, that _his _father had been Quidditch captain of the Holyhead Harpies. 'That's not true!' Lily cried, and then clamped a hand over her mouth until, unable to restrain herself any longer, she burst out, '_my _mum was on the team, and the captain was Bruce Hargins!'

Bardley blushed, glowering at the three children, 'Yeah, well, he killed four whole Death Eaters in the Battle of Hogwarts.'

Lily and Hugo sighed tragically, 'I don't think you know who we are.' Hugo replied simply, turning away.

'My mum told me once,' he said to Lily and Vi, ignoring the curious looks from Seth, 'that she thought it was _weird_ that Slytherins like to boast about how many Death Eaters their parents had killed! Apparently the Slytherin weren't just insufferable, conceited brats when she was in school, but actually evil! Apparently Scorpius's dad always talked about his jobs given from You-Know-Who and he constantly bragged about his Death Eater father! Isn't that odd?' Veronica nodded, although she hadn't known about Houses long enough to have a very strong opinion.

'All right, everybody! Everyone next to a broomstick? Okay, put a hand over it, and say "Up!"'

Veronica lifted a suddenly slippery hand, and mumbled timidly, 'Up!' the broom flopped over feebly, although Hugo and Lily's soared straight into their hands. Feeling extremely chagrinned, Vi glanced around and let out her breath in relief as she realized only a handful were holding brooms, Bardley not included.

'Up!' she said again in a wavering sort of voice, and sighed in frustration before saying in a now commanding voice, as she had heard Lily use, 'Up!' the broomstick, ever so slowly, floated upwards, into her outstretched hand, and it took much restraint on Vi's part not to whoop in joy.

'You did it!' squealed Lily, as Seth's broom flipped over again and he groaned in defeat. Madam Bell looked away as a triumphant smirk flitted across her features, and clapped her hands a moment later as a roar of success echoed across the grounds, 'Everybody ready? Now, hold the broom like this…'

XXX

Lily laughed in joy, her bag flung over her shoulder and her hair tousled, 'That was great!' Hugo nodded zealously, before watching Vi.

'What about you, Vi? Like it? You looked pretty queasy when Katie told us to kick off.'

'Shut up.' She mumbled quietly, 'But you're right, I don't think,' she stated unsteadily, stumbling slightly, 'that flying is really my thing. I'll stick to keeping two feet firmly on the ground.'

The redheads laughed, and began to review each other's flying abilities.

'You were great.' Admitted Hugo forlornly, 'A bloody natural if I ever saw one. All smooth. You were definitely best at sharp turns.'

Lily gazed at her feet humbly, before turning to Hugo, 'You were fantastic! Better than me at sharp turns, and you could change directions really quickly. Next year you should go as Keeper!'

'You'd make a good Chaser.' Calculated Hugo thoughtfully.

Vi sighed, 'I was miserable, really! Tell me the truth; did I look like a right idiot? Oh God, in front of the Slytherins! And I fumbled that easy turn…' this time it was Veronica talking excessively, rambling out her qualms as they plopped down on the common room sofa, whilst her friends listened sympathetically, occasionally butting in that Bardley was twenty times worse.

Finally, after an in-depth conversation about Hugo's Keeper potential, the three tramped up the stairs to bed, shattered.

* * *

**Please review!**


	9. Chapter 9: Teddy

**Here it is, a couple of days late. A thank you to MelodyPond77, my beta reader- my writing would be a lot worse off without you!**

* * *

Vi stared up at the enchanted ceiling with something akin to amazement. They had been in school for almost two weeks but the brunette just could not get over her disbelief at it all.

Growing up, when she went to birthday parties with magicians, her father had always ridiculed the tricks and called them fake. He made a point of smothering all sparks of belief at anything abnormal. As a young child, she was one of the few that did not believe in the Tooth Fairy or the Easter Bunny. She never kid herself about magical stuff; Dudley Dursley wouldn't stand for it.

But now, with one letter, it had all became perfectly real, extending beyond Vi's wildest dreams. And, more shocking, her father did not seem too upset about it. Conflicted, sure, but not outright hostile towards it all.

'Vi? Are you listening?' questioned Hugo, leaning closer to the thoughtful teen.

'Oh-what- yeah, I'm listening.'

Lily chortled as Hugo's eyes narrowed. 'Of course you were.' He said sarcastically, but as he continued his voice turned patronizing: 'So, good listener, how do you feel about it?'

Vi heaved a sigh, Hugo did this every time, challenged her when she claimed she was listening. 'Fantastic,' she muttered in a faintly sarcastic voice, 'I'm bloody ecstatic about it all!'

Lily howled with laughter, as Hugo looked disappointed. Apparently she'd gotten the right answer. 'Good, because McGonagall said she'd let him come in for a while.'

'Uh…'

'Teddy.' Whispered Lily helpfully, evidently siding with Vi in the battle of wills that commonly took place over lunch.

'Well, that's nice. Victoire will be happy, won't she?' asked Vi with a smirk of triumph.

Hugo snorted in annoyance before sighing in defeat. 'Fine, you were listening.'

XXX

'ACK! Jeez, that startles me every time!' Vi clung to the railing as the stairs shifted again. Lily smiled warmly at her, 'me too. Our stairs don't do that, although apparently in our house there used to be a screaming portrait. But Kreacher, who was dad's old House Elf, used some powerful magic to remove it.'

'What's a House Elf?'

'They used to be servants to a wizard master, and they had to do what you said. They are little ugly elf things. Anyways, you dismissed them by giving clothes but Hugo's mum completely re-wrote the law! Now they wear clothes and though they can pledge loyalty to a magical person, they can leave if they want, though none of them do.

'Also, though this is optional, they can ask for payment, which is a standard of a galleon a week. Oh, and they get weekends off if they want. Aunt Hermione is all for elf rights. The association that deals with elf cruelty and helps with the new laws is called S.P.E.W.! Dad says she started it in their fourth year!'

Veronica smiled fondly at her friend, who went on to talk a bit more about the beginning of S.P.E.W. and also introduced the Triwizard Tournament into the other witch's vocabulary.

_Wow_, Vi thought, _that biography left a lot out._

XXX

'TEDDY!' Lily squealed joyfully, running towards a man with dark blue hair and matching eyes.

The headmistress had allowed Teddy in for a day, as it was a weekend, McGonagall loved Teddy… and James, Fred and Roxanne had threatened fireworks.

After tackling him with a hug, Lily leaned back and scrutinized him carefully. 'You look different.' She declared.

Wrapping a tan arm around the young girl, Teddy laughed, 'My hair's a darker shade, if that's what you mean.'

Lily giggled, raising her big brown eyes to stare into Teddy's blue ones. 'Dad's been missing you. You know he hates when you go away.'

'He sees enough of me,' chortled Teddy, 'we're both Aurors. Speaking of, did you know your dad got a promotion? He and Ron are head of the office. Honestly, I was expecting it sooner; they've already revolutionized the entire setup!'

'We know.' chuckled two proud voices together, Albus, Rose and Scorpius had joined the mix. 'Dad said to owl him. Maybe you can stay in Hogsmeade all week, Uncle Ron, Aunt 'Mione and dad are doing speeches to all the years about Defense. They'd love to see you!'

Lily had already explained to Veronica that the trio came in every other year to do speeches for the Defense Against the Dark Arts classes.

'Ha! My dad had a right fit when he heard, even though he's not a, you know, Death Eater anymore, he still has a spot of bother for the Potter-Weasleys!' drawled Scorpius, grinning at Rose and Albus.

'Our parents are the same.' Sighed Rose.

'Your name is Veronica, right?' Vi jumped, so caught up in the conversation she'd forgotten about Teddy.

'Er, yeah. But call me Vi.'

'Will do. I'm Teddy, by the way.' He extended a hand before continuing. 'I'm a Metamorphmagus.' At Vi's utterly confused look, he shut his eyes, and his hair, before Vi's very eyes, turned bright pink, his eyes green and his nose a centimeter longer.

"Whoa!'

'Yeah, my mum,' something in his expression darkened, 'was one. She died when I was a baby. I've been raised between Harry and my grandmother. Harry's my godfather, you know. Best man there is, besides the other Weasleys. I'm not technically a relative, though I'm close enough. An I will be if things work out with Vic. Speaking of, where is that Veela?'

Unsure of what to say, Vi responded with a smooth 'Um...'

'Don't overwhelm her, Teddy.' Albus joked, 'She didn't know she was a witch until about a month or two ago, didn't know you existed, and now here you are gabbling on about the crazy turmoil of your life. Teddy, you are a bit much to take in.'

'Shut up.' Joked Teddy and he morphed into a perfect replica of Albus. Going cross-eyed, he laughed loudly, 'Anymore teasing and I'll go ask Polly Parkinson out for you.'

'You wouldn't…'

'I would. I'm still your big brother- well, basically.'

'Humph.' Albus crossed his arms and twisted around to glare at his pale Slytherin friend as he bent over laughing.

'All the black-mailing I could do!' he choked, 'Al, you'd do every piece of homework I ever got with the threat of having to go out with a Parkinson! Oh, if only I were a Metamorphmagus!'

'Sometimes I wonder why you're a Slytherin, but at times like these it explains a lot,' grumbled the green-eyed boy. 'Turn back, Teddy.'

'Fine.' He returned to his blue-haired state and started to observe the hall, 'Well, I'm off to find my elusive girlfriend.'

Smiling to himself, the man walked off. Rose turned to the Slytherin and her raven-haired cousin, and grabbed their arms. 'C'mon!' she demanded, 'I've got to finish that Transfiguration essay, and you guys haven't even started.' Groaning in unison as a commanding Rose dragged them off, the boys reluctantly parted from the diminishing group of relatives.

'Hey, Dursley!' grinned Fred and James as they walked over, 'we heard you're good at potions.' Said James importantly. 'And we wanted to congratulate you. You, Rose and the twins are the only people in this family who can make a half-decent potion. Even Lily is miserable! I'm the worst in the family, of course, even worse than Dad, And that's saying something.'

'Right…' replied Vi, feeling slightly confused as to why she was being congratulated in the first place.

'Well, see you.'

Once James was out of view, Veronica turned to Lily, 'What...'

'He's odd like that,' replied a thoughtful Lily, 'he praises people for the weirdest reasons! He said the same sort of thing to me the first time mum shouted at me, but that was understandable…'

'He gives praise when praise is due.' Peeled a new voice behind them. Roxy, a dark-red -similar to maroon- haired girl peered over Hugo's head at the two girls, 'And being good at potions, especially with even a drop of Potter or Weasley blood, is worthy of it, don't you think?'

'That's not necessarily true, we, my siblings and I, could've inherited our grandma's gift.'

'Yeah, but you didn't, did you? And the Evans potion skill is now lost in your family. I know you hate being anything but the best at stuff, kiddo, but you have to admit, there are only four people in this family who can make a half-decent potion, and that's including Veronica and me.'

'I don't mind not being the best!' cried Lily indignantly.

'She really doesn't! She was really happy for me when I beat her in Herbology and Potions!' supplied Vi in the aid of her friend.

Lily smiled gratefully at her while Roxy smirked.

'Better than you in Herbology, aye?'

'No, she's just as good! I was just making a point.' Mumbled Vi, ever the loyal friend, though this was in fact a lie. Lily was as bad at Herbology as she was at Potions.

'C'mon Vi! It's okay, you're way too modest, and you are an Herbology genius! Just like in Potions! You know what, since you're good at Charms, you could be a Healer!'

Vi considered this for a moment. Before she'd known she was a wizard, she had wanted to be a doctor, but that was a child's dream. Somehow, though, when Lily told her she could do something, she believed it. That moment there was a big one for Vi, for it first sparked an ambition worthy of Slytherin.

'You know what? That sounds like a good idea.'

Lily giggled out of pure delight, 'Seems I've given you a career path!'

Just then, Hugo groaned. Vi jumped; she'd forgotten he was there.

'I've just remembered a Transfiguration essay due tomorrow. I haven't even started!'

'What?' asked Lily in outrage, 'But, how is that possible? We worked on it all lunchtime yesterday! What the hell were you doing the whole time?'

'Uh… I was- you know me- I- um…' grappled Hugo as Lily's eyes flashed.

'Don't worry. I've got another three inches left anyways. I'll help you.' Offered Vi, feeling a wee bit nervous by Lily's eyes too.

'Hey! I will too!' exclaimed Lily. 'I just think it was irresponsible. Just like our dads. I was still holding out hope, Hugo,' she leaned forward, her eyes still a little bit unnerving, 'That you would turn out like your mother. But oh well. Vi and I will keep you in line.'

Hugo laughed jovially, and shook his head with vigor. 'Tough luck, Lil. So much Weasley blood but not enough Granger.'

The trio sniggered as they started off for class.

* * *

**Please review!**


	10. Chapter 10: Family Reunion

**I spent forever on this! I had to research the family tree. Here's a list of all the kids and their ages, including those that are main in the story, they might not all be accurate, a few ages I just made up:**

**Teddy Lupin-21**

**Veronica-11**

**Harry and Ginny's: James-15, Albus-13, Lily-11**

**Ron and Hermione's: ****Rose-13, Hugo-11**

**Bill and Fleur's: Victoire-17-18, Dominique-14, Louis-9**

**Percy and Audrey's: Molly-12, Lucy-8**

**George and Angelina's: Freddy-15, Roxanne-15**

* * *

'Is Lily here?' asked Professor Longbottom, and the three children look around nervously.

'Yes, Nev- sir, I'm here. Why?'

'It's your dad. I'm here to take you to see him.' the professor paused for a second, 'Veronica, Hugo, you come too.'

'What's happened?' asked Vi nervously. Lily looked close to tears, obviously assuming the worst.

'Harry was attacked by some rogue Death Eaters whilst at the pub. He's at St Mungo's right now.'

'What? Is he going to be okay? Can I go now?' pleaded Lily in panic, her eyes watering.

'Go to the Headmistress's to meet the others. She's been given permission to create a Portkey for you guys.'

'Okay.' Whispered Lily tremulously, as Neville knelt down by the heads of the three kids.

'Lily, don't worry. You know how much your dad has been through, and he'll be damned if a load of old Death Eaters bring him down.'

Lily hiccoughs and gives a watery smile. 'Thank you sir.'

'I'll bring you to Professor McGonagall's office.'

XXX

'Dumbledore.' Professor Longbottom said clearly to the two fearsome-looking gargoyles. They sprung apart, grumbling in irritation as they did so.

The second Lily saw James; she broke into tears and ran towards him.

'James!' she sobbed, 'daddy's hurt!'

James steadied her as she ran blindly into him and gathered her in his arms, rubbing her back soothingly, 'He'll be okay, Lil, don't worry.'

'I've got to go get Albus, and the others.' Said Professor Longbottom, 'the Headmistress will be here soon.'

And he left, leaving Hugo and Vi stood awkwardly in the doorway, watching the siblings.

James scooped Lily up and carried her to a little sofa that Professor Longbottom seemed to have conjured up. 'It's okay, Lil,' he whispered, 'don't worry. We'll see dad soon.'

Lily sniffled into his shirt as he settled her on his lap like a baby. 'But what if he has some sort of permanent damage?' she asked timidly.

'He might get a new scar, like his lightning bolt one, but I'm sure there'll be nothing taxing left. The Mungo's healers are gods. I promise you, Lily, he'll be fine.'

'How do you know?' she sniffed, staring at him with her big doe eyes, 'how can you be so sure?'

That stumped the surprisingly kind boy, 'Well,' he began uncertainly, 'There are some things in life that you just know. Just like I knew you'd be great at Quidditch and was sure Al would be a Gryffindor. There are things you know, without knowing how you know.'

Lily, who had been weeping quietly, looked up with sudden excitement, 'James, how are your marks in Divination?'

'They're not bad, when I try. Mostly I just laugh with Freddy. The old witch is a total fraud. But Lily, quite frankly, I'm insulted! Even considering the possibility of me being a Seer is offending!'

'Sorry.'

'It's okay.'

Just then appeared a distraught Albus who ran towards his siblings to comfort Lily, and to be comforted by James.

'He'll be all right.' Albus said, sounding more like he was convincing himself than anything.

'Of course he will be, Al.' James replied, with a meaningful glance at Lily.

The door opened again, and a load of children entered: Rose, Freddy, Roxanne, Victoire, Molly and Dominique.

'Is Uncle Harry okay?' the younger few- Rose, Dominique and Molly- asked whilst the elders just walked over to comfort those who were younger.

The rest of the family gathered by the couch, every one of them forgetting themselves and cuddling up with their cousins and siblings. Vi and Hugo tentatively joined.

Molly had a few tears in her eyes- she was only a year older than Lily, after all- but the little Potter was by far crying the most. Victoire wrapped a perfect arm around Lily and her little sister Dominique, who had perfect red hair and the same sort of striking beauty- if slightly more roguish- as her sister.

The Potter-Weasley-Dursley family sat that way for a while, silence falling except for an occasional snivel from the young ones.

Finally, the Headmistress entered. When she spotted the crowd, she looked surprised. 'I'm glad to see you all made it here.' she announced, making sure everyone was aware of her presence. They weren't, and all scrambled into dignified positions.

'We have rounded up,' the professor smiled briefly, 'all of you because your uncle, and in some cases, dad, has been attacked, and is now at St Mungo's. Your younger, or older, siblings who are not in school are already there. The Portkey is right here. Everybody grab on.'

The family scrambled to get a good hold, 'One. Two. Three.'

Veronica held on for dear life as the old piece of parchment started to spin, and she was sucked through a suffocating space until BAM, they hit the ground, everyone but Victoire tumbling to the ground. Vi looked around in amazement, she was in a wizard hospital!

'Hello,' said Victoire, speaking to the blonde witch at the desk as Vi admired all the odd injuries witches and wizards were here for- a man was tugging at a ridiculous green hat, screaming that it was burning his head and he couldn't get it off, another wizard was holding his friend by the shoulders as he flapped around madly. A woman was trying to talk to a nurse through a giant orange stuck in her mouth, 'ca' eh i' ow-u-t!' she was shouting -.

'We're here to see Harry Potter.' Continued Victoire.

'Harry Potter! Really? The Boy Who Lived, The Man Who Saved, The Chosen One? He's here? I didn't know! Must've been during Darcy's shift!' she gushed, 'Oh! You guys must all be the Weasley-Potter family! I can't believe I'm meeting you!' her voice was starting to attract attention, and soon many people were pointing at the family, coming to the same conclusion as the blonde. 'I used to have the biggest crush on Harry, but I joined Hogwarts whilst he should've been at his seventh year, so I never met him! Oh, I suppose you want to know the room. He's on the,' she consulted her list, still smiling dopily, 'Fourth floor, Ward 412.'

Lily dashed off towards the staircase, racing up with James hurrying after her.

'Lily! Slow down!' he shouted as the rest of the family followed eagerly.

XX

'Hey kids.' Whispered a tired voice; Harry was lying tiredly against a pillow, his face unusually white.

'DADDY!' shrieked Lily, hopping onto the bed and snuggling down next to him, 'Daddy, you're alive!'

Harry laughed, 'Of course I'm alive. It was just a load of Death Eaters. I would've left completely unscathed if I hadn't left my wand at the wrong end of the table.'

James walked over to his dad and began to study him, 'you don't look too bad. You're just a bit pale. I told you, Lil. He's fine!'

Harry smiled at his eldest son, wrapping an arm around both the kids. 'Al, come here.'

Albus emerged from the group and sat on the edge of the bed, 'Are you okay, dad?'

'Of course,' Harry rolled his eyes, stretching his arm so it held both Lily and Albus, 'So much fuss. I, personally, would've just gone home if Teddy hadn't happened to walk in at that moment and see me. He got paranoid and forced me here. There was no problem, they just gave me a Nerve-Calming Draught because of the Cruciatus Curse.'

'Dad! They did the Cruciatus to you? I'm going to kill them!'

'Don't worry about it, Jamie, Ministry got them locked up.'

'Uncle Harry, knowing my mum and dad, they must be here somewhere. Can you tell me where they are?' asked Rose, standing behind James.

'Getting drinks on the fifth floor. They'll be here soon. So will Teddy and Gin.'

'Oh good, Mum's here.' Replied Albus, 'I need to ask her 'some Quidditch-related questions.'

'Al, I was offered places as Seeker on all sorts of teams! And I was the youngest in centuries to be on a House Quidditch team. Ask me!'

'No, dad,' sighed Albus, rolling his eyes, 'Mum was a Chaser. I'm a Chaser, and I need to ask her about Chaser moves. James is your Seeker.' He said it like it was the most obvious thing in the world.

'Right.' Harry replied, now smiling broadly at James, 'James is the Seeker. And I heard from Hugo that Lily had the makings of a Chaser.'

Lily blushed and smiled at Hugo shyly.

'Ron, stop being immature! That portrait shouldn't bother you anymore!' Hissed a voice, 'so what if it thinks you've got Splattergroit? I don't, and I'm your wife.'

'Okay, okay!'

The door swung open, and three adults stood in the doorway.

'Hey kids!' cried Hermione, 'Jeez, you're all here. Teddy's still upstairs with Lucy and Louis. They'll be back soon.'

Rose and Hugo walked over to their parents, Hugo launching into detail about his first year so far as Ginny hurried to her children, embracing her youngest.

Teddy, Lucy and Louis arrived a little while later. It was awkward for Vi, as she hadn't met the youngsters once, and they didn't know she existed, but they got on well.

Lucy was quiet and timid, her curly brown hair splattering her shoulders. She didn't speak much, but it was soon clear that she was sweet and kind.

'Are your parents here?' asked Veronica, wondering whom the girl belonged to.

'My dad is Percy Weasley and my mum is Audrey. They were here before but dad had to go to an important meeting and my mum went with him.'

'My parents aren't here either. My dad is Dudley Dursley. You've probably heard of him, he's Uncle Harry's cousin.'

'Oh yeah.' Replied Lucy quietly, 'My dad told me about him.'

Just then, Lily ran up, her face shining. 'Teddy and Victoire! They're the cutest couple!' she squealed happily, 'ooh, I do hope they get married some day! Then he'll be a proper part of the family!'

Eventually, Vi was standing next to Louis, who she found to be a bit spoilt. Like her brother. And it was because she was so familiar with spoilt people that she started to grow on Louis. Vi figured she could make him less insufferable, all in good time. Veronica was good at that sort of thing; her brother had been a lot worse before Vi took up the case. Now he actually had some friends.

* * *

**You know what I'm going to say...**

**...**

**PLEASE REVIEW! **


	11. Chapter 11: Halloween, Part I

**Sorry it's so late, I've been in AFrica. But here it is, part 1:**

* * *

'I don't understand this,' groaned Hugo, slamming his quill down on the table and splattering ink across the parchment, which was really no loss, as it was already full of crossing-outs.

Vi smiled kindly at him, knowing how much he hated all the catching-up they had to do, but did not offer her help, 'Maybe if you hadn't embarrassed Lily like that in front of everyone, she would've helped,' she chided, ever the loyal friend to the girl.

'Please, Vi? I'm sorry. I swear! I didn't mean to say it so loud.' He pleaded, deeply regretting spilling Lily's little crush on Barry Thomas, the second year Hufflepuff.

Vi sighed, 'I really shouldn't, but this homework is quite difficult. I'll just say this: the first paragraph should include something about the uses of dragon bronchioles.'

'Thanks,' said Hugo, bending over, and scribbling a few sentences, before looking up again with puppy-dog eyes, 'Vi, please, please, please, please, _please_! I just… can't do it. Please help!'

'No. It's late; Lily's waiting for me. I'm going to turn in.' she walked upstairs before her warm heart could give her away.

'Lily, I'm sure half the girls like him! He is quite good looking, and I doubt anyone heard anyways.'

'He is handsome,' sighed Lily, 'Daddy always said Dean married well, and Barry is so lovely with his dark hair and Spanish accent. But _Bardley _heard him. I'll never forgive Hugo! Never!'

'Lily,' cooed Vi, 'Hugo didn't mean to say it so loud. C'mon, he said he's sorry.'

'Yeah, well, what good will _sorry _do?'

'What more _can _he do,' asked Vi, in slight frustration, Lily had been going on like this the whole day, and she was at her nerve's end, 'he didn't mean it, he said he's sorry, and I'm sick of being between you two during these squabbles! You really should apologize,' finished Vi, trying to calm down a bit before she upset the redhead as well.

Lily lifted her big, watery eyes to meet Veronica's, 'Should I? Oh! I'm being so selfish, aren't I? I'm sorry Vi, what must you think of me? I'll go apologize now, and help him with his homework.' She sniffled and stood up decidedly, 'I feel awful. He didn't mean it.'

She walked down the stairs before Vi could point out that it was past midnight, and Hugo probably wouldn't appreciate a late-night visit.

XXX

Vi yawned, stretching her arms above her head just to have something to do. History of Magic was _boring_. It was the only class she hated going to.

A little wad of paper fluttered onto her desk and, dazed by the professor's drone, she unfolded it.

It was immediately evident, from the spidery handwriting, that it was from Hugo.

_I'm so bored! Do you want to come with Lily and I to ask Madam Bell if we can use the brooms? You can just watch if you want._

_I did some Transfiguration practice… I've turned my quill into a needle (thank God the ghost's nearly deaf) but I can't reverse it. Do you have a spare quill? Can I borrow it for DADA if you do?_

_Thanks._

Smiling at Hugo's silliness, she caught his eye and nodded, pointing towards her quill. He, in turn, held up his slightly feathery needle.

She stifled a giggle, and turned away, her mind wandering numbly and landing on something she was eagerly anticipating; Halloween

It was tomorrow, and Vi could hardly wait!

She had heard enough from Hugo -"Rosie says it's better than the Welcome Feast!"- and from Lily -"Al told me the decorations appear over night and are incredible!"- to know that Halloween would be up there on that list of amazing things she had seen.

Seeming to think along the same lines, Hugo tossed a note in her direction with nothing but a picture of a pumpkin winking and smiling.

Vi couldn't help it; she snorted in suppressed laughter, gaining the attention of tens of bored children, 'What's so funny, Vi?' asked Lorcan, grinning at her from across the room. She checked briefly that Binns was preoccupied and then turned back to the boy, 'Ah, nothing. Just Hugo's picture.'

Everyone turned back towards the professor and left the embarrassed girl alone.

XXX

'Wake up! Wake up!' squealed Lily as Vi sat up groggily, 'It's Hallowe'en!' she sang, 'And McGonagall's given us the day off, half the teachers have a head cold!' her eyes brightened, Get up, get up!'

Still half-asleep, Veronica started to get dressed, becoming more and more awake, and more and more excited.

'Lily, Vi! Wake up!' shouted Hugo, followed by the sound of feet pounding up the stairs, a pause where the footsteps went wild, and then a shriek.

Lily's eyes widened and she burst out laughing, 'that happened to daddy and Uncle Ron! I forgot! C'mon Vi, if we hurry, we can slide down the slide!'

Completely confused, Vi leaned over and gaped at the sleek stone slide as Lily dived down it, and soon after a little plunking noise reached Vi, 'Come down! It's fun!' yelled Lily. Vi followed and, with a hoot of laughter, landed clumsily on the carpet.

Hugo scowled at them, 'Why didn't you tell me that would happen?' he asked, as a few older girls slid down and hopped neatly onto the floor, laughing at Hugo's crumpled form.

Two of them giggled, and as the they walked away, a third with a shining red face and laughing eyes turned back, 'Happy hallowe'en!' she called, waving a gloved hand.

Hugo turned away from her as the portrait swung closed, 'Now look! She was _laughing_ at me!'

'Oh well. You shouldn't have tried to come up. Put on your jacket, we'll go down to see Hagrid.'

XX

'Hagrid!' cried Lily, wrapping her short arms as far as she could around the giant's waist, 'Happy Hallowe'en!' she sang the word, as she had been doing all day, 'Are you coming up for the feast?'

'Course I am. Can't miss a good feast, eh? It's been too long since I've seen yeh, though.'

'We're sorry about that,' chimed in Hugo, 'Vi was too scared.' He nudged her in the ribs.

'Was not! I'm sorry sir, we've been a bit busy.'

'Sir?' chuckled the man, though his forehead was creased in worry, 'I suppose them lot told you 'bout me heritage? You won' be the firs' one teh fear me.' He sighed, and turned away to pour some tea.

'Heritage? What about it?'

'Oh! Thought they'd have told yeh, I'm a half-giant.'

He stared at her as though expecting a scream of terror, but Vi just stared back, 'so? Why is that an issue?'

He looked at her in surprise, 'Well, I suppose yeh're a Muggle-born, aren't yeh? Giants are considered… a bit rough.'

'Speaking of giants, Hagrid, how's Grawp?' asked Hugo to fill the silence. Vi shot him a quizzical look.

'Great! He's been helpin' me with them Thestrals. Been a bit restless, and he's been askin' to go out into the mountains. Thought maybe next summer…'

'What's Grawp and what's a Thestral?' questioned Vi curiously.

'Grawp's me half-brother, he's a full giant. And Thestrals pull the carriages.'

'What carriages?'

'Oh, you took the boats. They pull the carriages for the others, but they're invisible unless you've seen… they'll be invisible to you lot.'

Veronica froze, and shook her head wildly as though to rid herself of certain thoughts. She had probably imagined it, but she was sure she'd seen weird creatures pulling the carriages all the older students went in. They were like horses, but with snake-skin.

'Vi, what's wrong?'

'Nothing. I just… those things, Thestrals, are they like horses but with wings and snake-skin?'

'Yes!' said Hagrid in awe, looking confused, 'Can yeh see them?'

'Yeah. Is something wrong with me?'

'No… but yeh can only see them if yeh've seen death.'

'What? But I've never seen someone die!'

'Think. Yeh must have. Maybe when yeh were too young to remember it now.'

'I don't know. I think I'll ask dad.'

She bit on a cake and tried not to scream in pain as it turned out to be rock hard.

XXX

On the way back, Hugo tried to jog Vi's memory, 'did you have a… grandma? Or grandpa?'

'They're still alive.'

'Great uncle?'

'Nope.'

'Um… Great aunt?'

'Dead before I was born.'

'Uncle or Aunt?'

'Not any dead ones.'

'Cousin?'

'Still around!'

'Friend?'

No! All my friends are alive!'

'I can't think of anyone else. Can you?'

'No.' replied Lily.

'Hmm, we'll ask some older kids.'

'It doesn't matter!' cried Vi, feeling unnerved. 'I don't care!'

'Sorry.' Said a subdued Hugo.

It's all right.' Replied Vi, feeling bad as she watched the pitiful boy.

XXX

'Are you ready?'

'Almost. It doesn't start for ten more minutes. I can't find my clean shirt.'

'Hurry!'

'Why don't you go without me? I'll catch up!'

'Okay,' replied Vi, and feeling a bit like a bad friend, hurried towards the Portrait, 'I'll save you the best seat.'

She walked towards the Hall and placed a jumper over a large area of seats, but since it was so early, shedecided to wander around a bit.

She walked up towards the North Tower, where she had never been, and after ducking out from the fumes, walked towards the Muggle-Studies room. She had never been there, and she knew she never would, even once she was in Third Year. What was the point?

She heard an odd noise inside and, feeling excited and nervous, cracked the door open a bit, stopped, and gasped loudly in horror.

'Oh my _God_!' she breathed, backing away quickly, but not fast enough.

She was spotted.

* * *

**S'il vous plait, review!**


	12. Chapter 12: Hallowe'en, Part II

**Excuse my terrible romance writing. I'm not a romantic person, so this was a horrific challenge. Please, DON'T JUDGE ME! Anyways, sorry for the wait.**

* * *

_She heard an odd noise inside and, feeling excited, cracked the door open a bit, stopped, and gasped loudly in horror._

_'Oh my God!' she breathed, backing away, but not fast enough._

_ She was spotted._

_XXXX_

Rose wrapped her hands around his neck, her lips pressing against his as she tried not to over-think things. _You're kissing someone who could potentially be your future_, she told herself, _enjoy it!_ But she couldn't help the worrying thoughts that dotted her mind. Oh, if her dad knew.

Then a sharp intake of breath drew the couple's attention and their heads turned at exactly the same moment

She untangled herself from the beautiful pale boy and turned in dread to see the little Dursley girl watching.

Her sharp eyes took in the confusion, the indecision, on the girl's face watched her reeling back down the corridor.

'Veronica!' she called desperately, and saw dawning horror overcome the girl's face, 'Veronica, come here please!' Scorpius groaned in her ear, and she gently shoved him away, turning to the girl, 'Um… Vi…'

The disheveled girl pushed the boy away and faced the distressed Vi, 'Um, Vi… can I ask you a favour?'

Vi couldn't speak yet, but the bushy-haired girl looked so panicked, and had always been so kind that she couldn't help nodding, 'I- Scorpius and I have- have been… uh… going out… for a few months. Al knows,' the girl smiled at the Slytherin, 'Scorp asked for his permission, but no one else does. And they'd all react negatively if they did. We will tell them, but we'd like to wait. So, er… could you maybe _not _tell?'

Vi's cheeks were burning, and the image of the unlikely couple together was still fresh in her mind, but she managed to find her voice, 'Maybe. I mean, yes. Can I tell Lily? Please? I hate keeping things to myself.' She didn't mention that she needed someone to talk about this with, as a therapy session 'I won't tell anyone else but… out of curiosity, when _are _you going to? And, um, was Albus really okay with it?'

'Of course,' laughed Scorpius, 'I'm too charming to refuse. I asked her out on the train, after what Hugo told me.' He smiled at the Gryffindor with a bit of a triumphant smirk.

Rose slapped him lightly with the back of her hand, 'and we're going to tell them at Christmas. I can't say I'm not nervous, given _your _reaction!'

'Yeah, I'm sorry about that. It was just so… unexpected! Anyways,' she checked her watch and jumped, 'The Feast starts in two minutes! It's nearly seven!'

She raced off; glad to be out of the room, as the atmosphere was so thick you could feel it.

The good seats were taken, but she managed to slide into one next to James and the twins, placing her sweater lengthwise next to her to save Hugo and Lily seats.

It was 24 seconds past 7.05 and they still weren't there. Vi scanned the door anxiously, if they didn't get there soon, the feast would start without them!

Finally, as McGonagall stood to speak, the two came in looking flustered and excited. Upon seeing her questioning glance, Lily looked down shamefully and Hugo averted his eyes and sidled into the seat. 'Where were you?' demanded Vi in a quiet, but severe, whisper.

'Ssh! Can't talk now, McGonagall's starting to speak.' He whispered, turning away from Vi's scowl.

'Halloween is a time for celebration, and feasting, but we mustn't lower our standards. I understand that-' she paused as a loud frightening noise came from Hagrid, who held a tissue to his nose with an apologetic smile.

'Think I might be comin' down with it, ma'am.' He explained; referring to the nasty head cold much of the school was experiencing.

'Yes, of course Rubeus,' McGonagall replied briefly, turning back to the students, 'As I was saying, I understand that you've had the day off due to illness, but some of the things done today were unacceptable! Goyle,' the sixteen-year-old blushed at being called out, 'I do understand how upsetting it may be to have your father ridiculed, but hexing all those children was an overreaction! Such actions are not tolerated within Hogwarts, we do not do such things. McKinnon is recovering in the hospital right now.' Her eyes flashed and the tight knot on her head somehow looked more threatening. After a moment of silence, she continued, 'however, let's not have our spirits dampened by such things, and please, enjoy yourselves tonight. It is a celebration, so let us celebrate.' The corners of her mouth twitched slightly in a rare smile. 'Eat well!' she settled down next to her old friend Flitwick, whom was retiring at the end of the year, leaving the spot for deputy headmaster open. Chatter broke out immediately, and rude snippets about 'that Goyle' could be heard all around the Gryffindor, Ravenclaw and Hufflepuff tables. Even some sections of the Slytherin table were stealing glances at the boy. There was a satisfied look on the Headmistress's face that led Vi to believe that this reaction was her very intent.

And then Rose and Scorpius flitted through her mind, leaving a slightly disturbed expression on her face, 'Vi, are you okay?' asked Lily, leaning towards her.

'Um no-yes, I'm fine.' She replied before realizing she could tell Lily, if not Hugo, 'Actually no! There's something i need to tell you. Tonight.' She shot a meaningful glance at Hugo, and Lily nodded her understanding.

'At bedtime. Okay. I've got something to tell you, too.' Replied the redhead, as piles of food appeared on the table.

'What's at bedtime?' piped in Hugo curiously. Vi scowled, still annoyed with him.

'What were you two up to?' she countered. This time Hugo blushed and Lily averted her eyes, 'Seriously you two, what was it?'

Hugo shook his head in irritation. 'Don't be so nosy!' he scolded.

'I'll stop nosing if you tell me.' Insisted Vi evenly, trying not to get angry.

'Merlin, Vi. You're so stubborn!'

'Am not,' Vi muttered, before realizing that by saying that, she had proved she was, 'I mean… you're being unfair.'

'If you're not suborn, then you'll drop this.' He replied, and she realized she'd dug herself a hole.

'Fine.'

They lapsed into silence for a bit, sipping at their pumpkin juice and gathering a bit of all the food onto their plates until Lily, unable to take the strain, started gabbling, 'Dad's coming in next week! For the speech. It was delayed because of the Death Eater thing. Teddy's been staying with him, he's been really anxious for him, even though daddy seemed totally fine. Speaking of Teddy, Victoire told me she's going to move into his flat next summer! Isn't that great!' Her eyes widened happily and then her head snapped around as James laughed.

'Lil here could never take those tense silences. Sometimes when mum and dad would squabble she would start to sing.' He leaned across Veronica to put an arm briefly around his sister, 'Good old Lils. It always made dad laugh so hard when she'd sing Celestina Warbeck's old tunes. God, grandma has miserable taste!'

The whole family chortled their agreement as Lily tried to defend herself; 'They were the only songs I could think of in the moment!'

Vi chuckled softly, but her mind was really still elsewhere. What _were _Lily and Hugo doing? Why wouldn't they tell her?

And with a sinking feeling, she realized that perhaps it was something to do with her, maybe they were discussing her rudely. It would make sense for the way he had treated her. Her expression darkened slightly and she turned her eyes to her food, feeling betrayed, double-crossed.

She prodded the roast beef on her plate, and cut a tiny morel, tasting it hesitantly. James pushed the mashed pumpkin towards her with a smile, 'Try this, Vi. You'll love it!'

She thanked him gratefully and scooped some of the mash onto her nearly full plate; happy James still seemed to like her.

He was right; five minutes later and she was scooping more of the mash onto her platter, forgetting almost all the other food. Finally, Freddy pointed out that she really ought to eat the other stuff, as everything was squished together and _all _the food was fantastic.

So she did, and he was right. The feast provided was absolutely delicious, especially considering the type of meals she used to get at her old Muggle school.

When they had all eaten their fill, the meal was replaced by an array of puddings. Vi's delight at the amount of dessert quickly faded away as, despite the warm and hearty food, she felt cold and alone. Hugo and Lily hadn't even _tried _to talk to her!

'Hey Veronica, do you want this treacle tart?' someone asked her.

She smiled and grabbed a slice, savoring the sweet taste; she loved treacle tart.

'Hey, Vi! Look at me.' Hugo grinned at her, a spoon stuck to his nose by jelly. Vi gave him a look of disdain, as Lily was doing, although in a much colder way.

'Don't do that, it's embarrassing for me.' She turned away before he could respond, although not without noticing the frowns on James and Rose's faces.

'Are you all right, Vi? You seem a bit…' Rose trailed off, remembering her deal with the girl.

But Vi didn't seem to care, 'I'm fine. Sorry.' She blushed again and hastily shoveled some tart into her mouth. 'Just… it's nothing. I'd just like to be left alone.'

She finished the slice of tart and sat in utter silence, waiting to be dismissed.

XXX

Vi trudged through the portrait into the common room, unaware of the conflicted Lily watching her anxiously and biting her lip. It wasn't until Vi was in her pajamas and about to climb into the warm duvet that Lily spoke, 'I think I've done a bad thing.' She whispered, sitting at the edge of Vi's bed tentatively, her brown eyes wide.

Vi turned slightly towards the girl, her thoughts of sympathy betraying her, 'Oh yeah?' she asked, a sight sarcastic edge to her voice.

'Yes,' answered Lily, oblivious to the insincerity of Vi's curiosity, 'I think you'll be angry with me and Hugo, but we couldn't help it.'

'Hmm?'

'Yeah.' Lily replied, trying to keep the conversation afloat, 'You know how we went to talk to Hagrid this afternoon,'

'Yes,' Vi mumbled, wondering where this was going.

'Well, see, Hugo and I have both inherited our parents' love of mystery solving and their great curiosity. So after that, when you went to the library, we sent a message to your dad.'

'What? Why?' asked Vi, turning to face the redhead, 'what did you say?'

'We just asked if,' the girl dropped her eyes, her cheeks pink, 'If he knew who you'd seen die. Because otherwise, you wouldn't be able to see the Thestrals! I'm really sorry. I got a message from him whilst I was changing, he seemed very angry at us nosing around, which made us more suspicious.' She paused, going very red, 'so we went to see Professor Flitwick, as he wasn't at the feast, because of his cold.' She glanced up at Vi, who was feeling light of heart- they didn't dislike her! – But also annoyed at them snooping in her life.

Upon seeing no anger, Lily continued, 'Well, we asked him if he knew, and he did. He showed us the list of magical children to get letters, and, Vi,' her eyes were wild with confusion, 'there was a boy, Peter Dursley, on the list. He was a year younger than you. Was.' Vi was so insanely befuddled, she shut her eyes tight and listened, 'Peter was your brother, Vi.' Veronica's eyes flew open again, and her mind reeled as she moved towards the window, suddenly claustrophobic.

* * *

DUH DUH DUH!

Please review.

Just a few words, or less if you like. It'll take half a second, it won't affect your day at all, but it'll light up mine so please, write something, anything, in the comment box!


End file.
